Syrian civil war creating food crisis

The international aid agency Save the Children says Syrians face a growing threat of hunger caused by the civil war. While more than two million people have fled the country, nearly seven million of those who remain need some sort of aid, and food is becoming a major concern.

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TIM PALMER: Well as you heard there, Syria may be the focus of diplomacy in New York, but there's no sign of any resolution to the broader civil war.

As a result the international aid agency Save the Children says Syrians face a growing threat of starvation.

While more than 2 million people have fled the country, nearly 7 million of those who remain need some sort of aid, and food is becoming a major concern.

Middle East correspondent Matt Brown reports from the Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees in northern Jordan.

(Sound of person walking through refugee camp)

MATT BROWN: At this refugee camp, stories of killing in Syria are commonplace but beneath the obvious traumas of war, two insidious and growing dangers are often overlooked - poverty and hunger.

The UN says 4 million people in Syria now need food aid.

ROGER HEARN: The situation now is that the cost of living in Syria has just escalated. Even if you can get access to basic commodities, the price of those commodities has increased dramatically.

MATT BROWN: Australian Roger Hearn is the Mid East director for the international aid group, Save the Children.

ROGER HEARN: Nowadays it's decisions firstly about whether to purchase meat or not. Over time it's basically going down to one meal a day. And then it continues until people become more and more hungry.

MATT BROWN: Syrians are not currently facing widespread starvation, and, before the war they struggled with poverty and inequality.

But Syria was not a desperately poor country and it's a measure of how much things have changed that by one estimate, 20 per cent of families in hard-hit areas now spend a quarter of each month without food because they can't afford it.

ROGER HEARN: Now to see people making choices - life and death choices in some situations - about whether to stay or whether to go, based on issues such as hunger, it's really quite appalling.

(Sound of woman speaking in Arabic)

MATT BROWN: This mother of four, Hamra, arrived at Zaatari recently from southern Syria, where she says prices for basics like bread and vegetables have shot up as much as 500 per cent. The family was skimping on food and her children getting tired from hunger.

Hamra says that's a big change when you consider that before the war they had sheep and a cow to milk.

Given that a breakthrough on ridding Syria of its chemical weapons seems within reach, it may seem extraordinary that humanitarian workers still can't be sure of being allowed to cross the front lines in the civil war.

But they've been pushing for an agreement on that issue and still can't get one.

Save the Children is urging world leaders gathering at the UN this week to make a deal like that a top priority.

ROGER HEARN: We've had thousands of children dying. Sadly we will, regardless of what happens around chemical weapon discussions, we will sadly see thousands more children die unless there is some level of international solution to the Syria crisis.

TIM PALMER: Roger Hearn from Save the Children at the Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan.